Frozen: Stone Cold
by sonicking2004
Summary: Picking up where Frozen: Second Star left off, we find Elsa and friends on their way back home when an unexpected event hurls them off to a wondrous city they had only ever heard tales of before. Now, if they are to manage to survive in this strange and dangerous land, much less find their way back home, they'll need the aid of some unique Guardians of the Night.
1. Chapter 1: Guardians

**Guardians**

As Kristoff guided the ice boat holding their sled through the air, Elsa could not help but think back on her time at Neverland. While she could have done without the whole abduction by pirates business, she was glad that she had got to meet Tink and Perri. Already she was beginning to miss them terribly, as well as Olaf, who had wanted to stay behind for a while longer with the fairies, but Elsa was looking forward to getting back home to see her parents again. Elsa had not nearly enough time with them since they had been rescued from their apparent death by Julian, thanks to those horrible pirates kidnapping her the night after Julian had returned to his quest to find his way home, and she was sure that they were terribly worried about her right now.

As they passed through the boundary that divided Neverland from the rest of the world, Elsa was dazzled by all the colors and patterns that filled the sky before them, and from Anna's gasp Elsa deduced that she was not alone in her delight. While she watched, a couple of unique patterns appeared and drew Elsa's eye. While the other patterns were beautiful but rather nondescript, these two appeared to take the form of faces. One was that of a smiling baby, maybe only a year old or so, with a growth of strawberry-blond hair. The other was of an older male. She could not tell how old he was, due to his long white hair and unblemished complexion, but his pointed ears and his impish expression almost gave him the look of a fairy.

While she was pondering what she was seeing, the "baby" laughed huge gust of wind ripped the boat sway and and nearly capsized them all out of the sled they were sitting in.

"Hang on!" Kristoff hollered while he gripped Anna's arm with one hand and held onto the sled and Sven's reigns with the other. Fortunately, it seemed the sled still had enough pixie dust remaining to keep them aloft.

"What's happening!?" exclaimed Anna as she pulled herself more securely to Kristoff's side.

"I think it was that baby!" Elsa hollered back as she caught her breath, "I think it somehow caused that wind!"

"What baby?" Anna asked her in confusion.

Before Elsa could answer her, the baby laughed even harder, and a stronger wind blasted the sled again. Knowing they might be in trouble if they fell out of the sled now, Elsa set to work with her powers. Though it was difficult, as her ice kept blowing away nearly as fast as she could make it, Elsa finally managed to create an ice cage that extended from the sled's sides and closed over their heads, as well as a support harness that kept Sven from being slammed against the sled or ripped away from them. Finally the wind stopped and the sky returned to a normal starry appearance, the two faces nowhere to be seen.

"Well," Kristoff said with an air of calm, trying to not appear ruffled by what just happened while Elsa dissolved the roll cage and harness, "that was exciting."

Suddenly Anna gasped and said, "Look!"

Elsa looked where Anna was pointing and her breath caught in her throat. Before them was not her beloved kingdom of Arendelle but rather another land altogether. Made up of many incredibly tall buildings and more lit windows than Elsa could possibly count, the huge city before her could not look more alien to her. Despite this, Elsa could not shake the feeling that she had seen this place before. Then, as the lights and silhouettes came together in her mind, it came to her: this city is nearly identical to the one Julian had first came to, after leaving his kingdom following the accident that claimed his brother's life. According to Julian's tale, however, this place should not exist for some time yet. Did that mean that unnatural wind that hit them while they were traveling from Neverland had not only blew them off course for home, but also sent them to another time? And if so, how would they get back home, let alone back to their own time?

As they flew past a giant statue of a crowned woman holding aloft a torch, which convinced Elsa that this was indeed the same place, she felt for a moment an urge to use Julian's pendant to call for him and request his aid to help them return home. As she started to reach for it, however, she recalled those faces she saw in the sky before that wind sent them here. While it was a longshot, Elsa felt that the owners of those faces, the people Elsa believed were responsible for this, were here somewhere. If that was the case, she first wanted to find them and, if possible, get _them_ to send the four of them back home. Besides, before her abduction Elsa had never set foot outside her own kingdom, so her experience with the outside world was limited to books and through Julian's window. As such, Elsa felt a need to see this place with her own eyes.

"What are we going to do?" Anna asked in a small voice.

"We find whoever's responsible for bringing us here and make them send us back," Elsa responded.

"But this place is _huge!_" Kristoff countered, "There must be more people living in this city than in all of Arendelle! How would we know where to start looking?"

"I don't know," Elsa admitted, "but we have to try."

* * *

After flying around the city for around an hour, Elsa began to feel the hopelessness of the situation. Describing the city "huge" was turning out to be a major understatement. While she wasn't sure that this city's population was truly larger that the whole of her kingdom, the fact remained that there was more people here than she had ever seen in her whole life. Even if she and the others split up to search the town, it would likely take more than a month before any of them had any luck, and that was assuming that the ones they were looking for remained in one place (which would not be likely). Nor did it help that she was the only one to see those faces before they were blown off course.

When she saw that Sven was getting tired, Elsa suggested that they land on the roof of one of the buildings. While this building was shorter than most of the others they'd seen here (only 4 stories, judging by the number of windows she'd seen), its roof was large enough for Sven to land the sled on it easily, and the fact that the taller buildings on either side had no windows facing it made it ideal for them to use it to rest and gather their thoughts together.

"Julian's tales of this place did not do it enough justice," Elsa said mostly to herself, placing a hand to her spinning head.

"The air smells funny here," Anna commented, her voice coming off distorted due to her hand over her nose.

"That's most likely due to those horseless carriages down there," Kristoff said as he looked down from the street side of the roof, "I wish we could have found out from Julian before he left how they worked."

"Well, getting around will be a problem," Elsa stated thoughtfully as she paced back and forth, "Even if the pixie dust wasn't likely to wear off soon, we can't keep flying around like this. That'll likely end up drawing to us unwanted attention, as I don't think flying sleds are a common sight here. Also, we'll likely need to find a way to get some new outfits in order to blend in. However, I did not have anything of value on me when those pirates grabbed me, and I would have been stripped of those if I had. I don't suppose you two have anything we could trade for garments?" When Anna and Kristoff shook their heads no, Elsa rested her hand over her pendant as she continued, "I just wish I knew what to do here, but this place is completely foreign to me. If only there was someo…"

Elsa was interrupted by a sound like the crackle she associated with Julian's powers, accompanied by a loud and painful howl so inhuman that it sent shills down her spine and set her nerves on edge.

"What was that!?" Anna exclaimed fearfully.

"It came from the alleyway!" Kristoff stated as he hurried over to that edge, and Elsa and Anna followed him. When she got to the edge and looked down, what she saw made her eyes bug out. Down below she saw six people dressed entirely in black from head to foot, wielding strange warhammers that glowed as if Julian's lightning danced on the heads, all of whom were surrounding something Elsa could only describe as a monster. Easily seven or eight foot tall, this creature had slate grey shin and jet black hair, some sort of loincloth belted at the waist, and a pair of large leathery wings on his back.

Though it appeared that the beast was severely injured, it looked at first to Elsa as though the hammer wielders were defending the city against this fierce creature. Then Elsa caught a glimpse of movement behind the creature and realized it was standing protectively in front of a young woman. Dressed unlike any woman in her own country, she had black hair and was wearing black pants and a red jacket. She was also holding something in her outstretched hand in a way that suggested it was some sort of weapon much like Captain Black Adder's blunderbuss, and her stance suggested that she herself was a warrior. However, her apparent inability to hold the weapon level at the approaching men made it appear that she too was injured. Even with the powerful creature by her side, it didn't look as though they would last too much longer against such odds.

"What is it?" Anna asked fretfully.

"I don't know," Elsa answered, "but we have to help them."

" 'Them'?" Anna asked in confusion.

"The female warrior and….the creature defending her," Elsa said in response.

Anna looked shocked and confused for one moment, then her face cleared and she nodded determinedly. Then Anna gripped Elsa under her arms and together they stepped off the ledge, with Elsa using blasts of Arctic air together with Anna's still-active pixie dust flying ability to slow their decent.

"Uh, guys? What about…?" Kristoff started to ask, then he smiled and shook his head and, pulling out his climbing pick, began to clamber down the side of the building.

* * *

As her bruised body trembled from the electric shocks it had taken from the Quarrymen's hammers, Elisa cursed those thugs' rotten luck. If their first assault hadn't fried her cell phone then she would have called for backup by now. Additionally, Goliath had told the others that he was spending a quiet evening out with her, so they had no reason to expect help from the other gargoyles. Even if she were capable of holding her pistol still enough, Elisa would not get off more than one or two shots before the others would fall on them. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, Elisa would not show any weakness in front of these cowards.

"Shouldn't you boys be in jail, together with your boss John Castaway?" Elsa said with an air of ease.

"Nah, you had arrested everyone who had assaulted the train, and we ourselves had committed no crime, so your boys had no reason to hold us," one of the hooded Quarrymen responded cockily.

"Ah, but assaulting a police officer is a crime, so I imagine it won't be long before you rejoin Mr. Castaway in prison," Elsa responded determinedly.

"Assuming we were ever identified, but with no witnesses and no evidence you'll just end up another statistic: a senseless victim of a random mugging," a different quarryman replies smugly, "Particularly when no trace of your monster will ever be found."

"You will not touch her!" Goliath growled as he stood protectively in front of Elisa, pushing her back closer to the wall behind them.

"Afraid you have no say in the matter, monster!" the first Quarryman yelled as he raised his hammer high to deliver a brutal strike. Then, before Elisa's disbelieving eyes, a bolt of energy struck the hammer from above and it ended up being stuck to the wall behind him with a thick icicle. "What the…?" the Quarryman exclaimed as he tried in vain to dislodge his hammer from the wall while the temperature in the alley dropped several degrees.

"L-l-l-look! Up-p-p-p there!" a third Quarryman said through chattering teeth as he pointed towards the roof.

Elisa followed his gaze and her jaw dropped. Floating down from a nearby roof were a pair of young ladies who were maybe in their late teens or early 20's. One was dressed in a somewhat conservative dress that was green with white sleeves, had strawberry-blond hair almost the same shade as little Alexander Xanatos, and had something strapped over her shoulder and hanging behind her back. The other young woman had silvery white hair and was wearing a strapless baby blue dress that seemed to shimmer even in this low light. What had caught Elisa's attention about these girls, besides the fact that they were floating down slowly without the benefit of wings, was the fact that it looked as though the strawberry-blond was carrying the other from above, while the silver hair seemed to be generating a stream of wind that slowed their descent, a wind that made this alleyway colder and colder.

When they were close enough to the ground, the blond let go of the silver hair who immediately assumed a fighting stance similar to Goliath's. Then the blond landed beside the silver hair and unslung the rope from her shoulders to take into her hands a frying pan, brandishing it as though she was looking to use it to play tennis with someone's head. Was she serious?

"I believe that he told you people to not touch her," the silver hair said to the Quarrymen in a even tone, "I'd advise doing as he said, for I won't be asking you as nicely."

The Quarrymen looked at the girls in shock for one moment, then they burst out laughing, and Elisa could not blame them. Despite their somewhat dramatic entrance, the young ladies were dressed more for attending the Renaissance Festival or going to a prom rather than for combat.

"This matter doesn't concern you girls," one of the Quarryman addressed the girls while hefting his hammer over his shoulder, "so why don't you just head along home before you get hurt or catch a cold?"

"Don't you worry about us, mister," the silver hair said as she gravitated towards the wall nearest her, the one opposite of where Elisa herself was, "I don't think that we're the ones that are going to get hurt or 'catch a cold'."

Then the silver hair placed her hand on the wall and Elisa was shocked to see ice spreading quickly along the wall from where she touched it towards their end of the alley. As the ice neared them, large and sharp-looking icicles extended from the ice wall, forming a wicked kind of brambles that came mere millimeters from poking out an eye or puncturing a throat of the Quarrymen before they stopped growing. Then, as the blond shifted her grip on her skillet, the silver hair altered her stance while a pair of icicles grew in her hands in the shape of short, double-edged swords.

"Why you little…!" one of the Quarry men growled angrily as he acted as if he wanted to take on the young women's challenge, but one of the others gripped his shoulder as he said fearfully, "Are you crazy!? I'm not taking on a pair of witches and a gargoyle with just the six of us! Let's get out of here!"

As the others follow the lead of the last one who spoken and took off running away from the girls to the end of the ally, the one remaining Quarryman glared at them briefly as he bellowed, "This isn't over, you freaks! We'll be back!" Then he took off after the others as well and hopped into the open sliding door of a van that had appeared at the alley's entrance shortly before it took off.

Once the van was gone from sight, the silver hair girl released the ice swords and they dissolved into mist before they hit the ground, with all the ice in the alley disappearing along with it. Just then, Angela and Broadway swooped into the alley.

"Father! Elisa! Are you two all right?" Angela asked as she landed next to them.

"Angela? Broadway? How did you…?" Goliath started to ask.

"Angie and I were on a date a few blocks away when we saw that van driving suspiciously, so we decided to follow it," Broadway explained, his eves full of concern, "We saw the Quarrymen that came out of here, how did you guys manage to drive that many off?"

"We didn't, it was these two who had saved our lives," Goliath said as he gestured towards the girls. Then he bowed towards them, wincing slightly as the motion twinged his injured wing, and said, "You ladies have my eternal gratitude."

"Think nothing of it, good sir," the silver hair responded with a curtsey, "We are strangers in this land, but even we could see that what was happening here was wrong."

"None the less, what you girls did was very brave," Elisa said as she holstered her pistol, "My name is Elisa Maza, a detective with the Manhattan bureau of the New York Police Department, and these are my friends Broadway, Angela, and Goliath."

"A pleasure," the strawberry-blond girl said with her own curtsey, "I am Princess Anna of the Kingdom of Arendelle, and this is my sister, Queen Anna…"

Then she was interrupted by a screaming from above as a well-built blond male dropped neatly into Goliath's outstretched arms. The strawberry-blond suppressed a chuckle before continuing, "…and that's my boyfriend, Kristoff."

"Hello, sorry about that; loose brick," Kristoff said sheepishly as he gestured towards the brick piece still lodged on the end of his pick, "Thanks for catching me, though."

"Uh…don't mention it," Goliath said in confusion as he set Kristoff on his feet, then he turned back towards the girls and asks, "You say that you two are royalty? What brings you to this country?"

"To be honest, we're not sure….Goliath, was it?" Elsa said. When Goliath nodded in confirmation, Elsa continued, "The fact is that we were on our way back home when a strange wind had blown us off course. The next thing we knew, we were headed towards this city." Elsa then turned towards Elisa and asked, "You said that this place is called New York City. Would you please tell me what year it is?"

Elisa raised her eyebrow at the odd question, but simply said, "It's 1997."

Elsa then turned back towards her sister and said in concern, "It's just as I feared. We'd been sent forwards nearly 200 years!"

Goliath rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he mused, "That was no ordinary wind. Tell me, did any of you see anything unusual before this wind sent you here?"

Elsa nodded and said, "Faces. I saw a pair of faces in the sky: one was of a baby who had hair the same shade as Anna's, and the other was of a man with long, white hair and pointed ears."

"Alexander Xanatos and Puck?" Broadway guessed.

"But I thought that Puck was forbidden from using his powers by Oberon, except to train or protect little Alex," Angela countered in confusion.

"This would not be the first time that Puck had found some loophole in his restrictions, like the time he'd provided his 'help' to our brother and sister Coldstone and Coldfire," Goliath mused thoughtfully.

"You know who might have brought us here?" Elsa said quickly, her face flush with excitement and desperation, "Can you take us there?"

Goliath rubbed his injured wing as he answered, "Angela and Broadway can lead you to where the ones you may be seeking reside. I cannot glide on this wing, so I'll have to find a safe place to rest before dawn."

"I don't like the idea of leaving you behind here. Those guys could come back, and I don't think they'll stop looking just because you aren't exactly where they had left you," Elsa countered, then after a quick glance towards the rooftop she added, "If you don't mind, we have our sleigh parked up there, and I'm sure that Sven's rested up enough now that he can take you where you need to go."

" 'Sven'?" Angela asked.

"Sven's a reindeer and my best friend since I was young," Kristoff explained, "and he has pulled far heavier loads before in helping me with my ice cutting, so I'm sure…"

Elisa could not help the short burst of laughter that came out of her, despite what she had just been through. She then cleared her throat, still unable to smother her smile, and said, "I'm sorry, but you said that you have a reindeer-driven sleigh on the rooftop? What, did you guys fly here?"

Elsa, confused by Elisa's reaction, simply said, "Yes."

Angela, who had been brought up by humans, gasped and asked, "Like Saint Nick?"

"What? Oh!" Anna exclaimed in revelation, then with a small chuckle of her own she said, "Yes, we flew here in a sleigh, 'though we've never net Saint Nick. As my sister Queen Elsa had said, we were flying back home from Neverland when we were blown off course."

"Neverland? As in Captain Hook and Smee, Peter Pan and Tinker Bell…?" Broadway asked in bewilderment.

"Well, we never encountered anyone named Captain Hook or Peter Pan, although there was a cabin boy named Smee among the crew of Captain Black Adder, who had kidnapped me and taken me to Neverland, where Tinker Bell and her other fairy friends rescued me from my imprisonment," Elsa clarified.

"Are you serious?" Elisa asked in confusion, then her legs began to wobble as the fight and the events of the last couple of hours took their toll, prompting Goliath to reach out to steady her as she said, "Thanks, but all this is just a little much."

"I agree it's all a bit overwhelming," Goliath said to Elisa, then he turned to Elsa and continued, "but if your offer for a ride is genuine, than I would gratefully accept."

"It'd be my pleasure," Elsa replied, then she turned and, with a blast of energy that came from her hands, created a short but wide platform of ice by one of the alley's walls before saying, "Here, climb on. I'll get us back to the roof."

Angela and Broadway, who had not yet bore witness to Queen Elsa's powers, stared in shock and amazement as Broadway exclaimed, "Jalapeña!"

* * *

As the platform slowly rose into the air, raised by the platform's own growing pillar-like legs, Elisa had to wander and admire how something that looks so fragile could possibly hold the weight of all of them, particularly considering the gargoyle's clawed feet. Equally awe inspiring was how this "Queen Elsa" was able to do something like this with no visible effort whatsoever. Elisa had wondered if perhaps Elsa and her sister were, in fact, both children of Oberon, like Puck and Odin, or perhaps Halfling descendants, like young Alexander and his mother Fox.

When they reached the roof, Elisa's jaw dropped slightly as she said, "I don't believe it. There really is a sleigh and a reindeer up here."

As the reindeer Sven saw them, he began to prance in place as his tongue lolled out happily, his mannerisms reminding Elisa more of those of a dog like Bronx.

"Hey there buddy, sorry we left you behind like that," Kristoff said as he walked up and scratched Sven on the head between his antlers, "You rested up enough for another ride?"

As Sven Happily bellowed his acknowledgement, Goliath said apprehensively, "One moment, there might be a problem here. While this sleigh may be large enough to hold me, I figure there would only be room enough for three others to ride inside. While Angela and Broadway would be able to follow once they gain enough altitude for gliding, I do not wish to leave Elisa back here. As you said, the Quarrymen may return, and they would surely take their revenge out on her."

"I could carry one of them back to the castle," Broadway offered.

"That's okay, Elsa and Kristoff can ride back with you guys," Anna said to Goliath and Elisa, then as she floated off the ground and performed a short loop-de-loop she added, "I'd like to get in some solo flight time while I can."

As Angela and Broadway goggled at the younger sister, Elsa asked in concern, "Are you sure? We don't know how much longer the pixie dust will last."

"I'll be fine, Angela and Broadway can catch me if I start to fall," Anna assured her, "I'd be more worried about you guys if the dust wears off mid-flight."

"It'll be okay. I can catch us with an ice ramp and a soft blanket of snow if that happens," Elsa assured her in return, "Just….be careful, okay?"

"I will," Anna acknowledged, then she called out as she flew up into the air, "Come on, guys!"

As Angela and Broadway began to scale the wall of one of the neighboring buildings, Kristoff, Goliath and Elisa climbed into the sled while Elsa covered the roof in a thin layer of hard-packed snow.

"Are you sure that this is safe?" Elisa asked uneasily.

"Don't worry," Elsa assured her as she finished and climbed into the seat beside Kristoff, "So long as we don't encounter any more sudden, unexpected winds, then we'll be fine."

"What?" Elisa cried put in a sudden burst of panic, but before anyone could answer Kristoff gave the reins a snap and Sven pulled the sleigh forward in a jolt of speed. Even though she had went gliding in Goliath's arms a good number of times since they met almost three years ago, and even went gliding herself once before back when she'd been briefly changed into a gargoyle herself (courtesy of Puck), Elisa still felt her heart leap into her throat as she felt the sleigh dip as it raced over the roof's edge. Then, amazingly, they were flying though the air! While it wasn't the same as gliding along with Goliath embracing her, Elisa had to admit that it was exhilarating in its own way. As she watched, she saw the younger sister do a barrel roll around the airborne Angela and Broadway as she took the lead, whooping in her delight.

"Showoff!" Broadway called out in mock admonishment, and Anna laughed in response.

"So where is that we're going?" Elsa asked Goliath and Elisa.

"There, our home," Goliath answered as he pointed ahead of them, "Castle Wyvern."

As Elsa saw where he was pointing, she gasped in astonishment. There, atop the tallest building in the city, was an old-fashioned castle done in Scottish style. As Elsa took in the wondrous sight, Goliath continued, "There, in the castle, we will find safety and refuge. There, in the castle, you may find the answers you are looking for."


	2. Chapter 2: Restless

**Restless**

As David Xanatos gazed through his binoculars from one of the castle's towers, he could hardly believe his eyes. Of course he had seen the same thing from the security cameras, but at the time he figured the system had been hacked and the image doctored, perhaps a prank performed by Lexington. Nonetheless, here he was now seeing it with his own eyes: accompanied by Angela, Broadway and some unidentified flying blond girl was an actual reindeer-driven flying sleigh, in which Goliath and Elisa were riding as passengers.

As great as his disbelief was, his curiosity about this oddity, as well as his concern about what had happened to Goliath and Elisa, was greater. "Well this in an interesting development," Xanatos mused as he lowered the binoculars, a half smile upon his face as he turned towards his servant and friend Owen, "Please go get the first aid kit and have the other gargoyles come up here right away, Owen."

"At once, sir," Owen replied in his usual wooden manner before turning and heading back inside, then Xanatos himself took the stairs down to the ward. As he reached the bottom, the keep's doors open and Hudson, Lexington and Bronx came bounding out while Brooklyn glided in from beyond the parapets.

"What's going on, Xanatos?" Lexington asked in nervous agitation, "Owen said you heeded to see us right away."

"I had Owen call you all here because I thought you'd want to know that Goliath and the others are on their way back," Xanatos explained, "and from what I could see, he and Elisa had been hurt."

The gargoyles all gasp in shock as Brooklyn asks, "How? What happened?"

"I imagine we'll all find out together," Xanatos replied, "They're riding in now."

" 'Riding'?" Hudson asked quizzically. Then as they watched, a sleigh pulled by a reindeer cleared the parapets on the outer wall, with a couple of humans at the reins and Goliath and Elisa riding in the back, and Angela, Broadway and a flying human girl following them in from behind. "Jalapeña!" Hudson exclaimed while the other looked on in amazement.

When the sleigh landed, Goliath helped Elisa step from the back, and the others could see that they were indeed seriously injured. As the others rushed up to them, Hudson asked them in concern, "Are you alright lad and lass?"

"I'll be fine, old friend. Nothing that a good stone sleep can't cure," Goliath assured him, "I'm more concerned about Elisa."

"You took the worst of it, Goliath. I'm sure I'll be sore the nest couple of days, but I'll be fine," Elisa responded, then as she pulled out a cracked and sparking cellphone she added with a sigh, "which is more than I can say for my brand-new phone."

"What happened to you guys? You had just headed out only a couple of hours ago!" Brooklyn asked them in confused concern.

"We had run afoul of a group of Quarrymen," Goliath explained.

The others looed shocked at this revelation as Lex exclaims, "The Quarrymen!? I thought they were all behind bars!"

"Apparently since this particular group had no provable involvement in the train assault, the authorities had no basis on which to hold them," Goliath stated solemnly, then he gestured towards the group of unknown humans as he added, "If it were not for these kind humans coming along when they did, it could have been much worse, and we might not have made it back at all."

"Then you folks have our thanks," Hudson said with a smile as he extended his hand and introduced them, "My name is Hudson, and here we have Brooklyn, Lexington, our host David Xanatos…" then he gestured over to Bronx, who was excitedly greeting an equally energetic Sven, "…and that ball of energy is Bronx."

The young woman in the blue dress and silvery hair gave a small courtesy and placed her hand in Hudson's in a formal manner as she said, "A pleasure to meet you all. I am Queen Elsa of the kingdom of Arendelle. This is my sister Elsa, her boyfriend Kristoff, and the reindeer's name is Sven."

"Your Majesty," Hudson said in greeting, bowing and lightly touching her hand with his lips to complete the gesture before releasing her hand.

"A queen? Wow!" Lex exclaimed.

"Arendelle, huh?" Xanatos asked with a note of interest in his voice, "As a successful businessman, I have dealings all over the world, but I don't think I've ever heard of that place before."

"I may have," Hudson stated, "Back in the old days, when Castle Wyvern was still located in Scotland, I heard the humans talk of a small province in the region of Norway known as Arendelle, which was known for its various exports like woolen robes. It is possible that during the years we'd been trapped in enchanted sleep this province had grown into a full-fledged kingdom."

"That's right. Our kingdom was known for its exports. Still is, or it was when I was last there," Elsa confirmed, her voice faltering on the last sentence from concern over what Xanatos had said about not hearing anything about her home.

"Just how long have you been away from home child?" Hudson asked gently.

"And how did you get this thing to fly?" Lexington asked eagerly as he examined the sleigh from every angle, "I don't see any means of propulsion on it anywhere."

"It was able to fly due to some pixie dust on it," Elsa answered.

"Pixie dust?" Lex asked as he wiped some of the dust off and rubbed it between his fingers.

"Yes, Tinker Bell and the other fairies sprinkled it on the sled and the boat I'd made before we left Neverland," Elsa explained, "That's what enabled us to fly here, although we were trying to fly home at the time."

"Neverland?" Lexington perked up, "As in Peter Pan and Captain Hook?"

"I heard Elisa mention those names before, but I never met those people," Elsa responded, "only Tinker Bell and the other fairies of Pixie Hollow on Neverland. They rescued me from the pirates who grabbed me from my home, and in return I, together with my sister and Kristoff, helped them defend _their_ home when the pirates returned to try and steal their pixie dust."

"Sounds like we arrived just when the conversation was getting interesting," Xanatos heard his wife Fox say from the doorway, and as he turned he saw her standing there cradling their son Alexander with Owen standing right behind holding the first aid kit.

"I apologize for the delay, sir," Owen said to Xanatos, "I encountered your wife on my way back with the med kit and she insisted on greeting accompanying me to greet our new arrivals."

"That's quite alright, Owen. I understand," Xanatos said with a wave, then he turned towards the others and said, "Everyone, this is my assistant Owen, my wife Fox, and my son Alexander. Fox, Owen, this is Queen Elsa, Princess Anna, and Kristoff of the kingdom of Arendelle."

"A pleasure," Fox said as she bowed her head and smiled. Elsa, on the other head, could only goggle and gape for a moment at the baby in Fox's arms before she said, "It's him! That's the baby I saw!"

"Are you sure?" Anna asked her.

"I'm positive!" Elsa confirmed, "The same hair, same eyes, even the dimple in the cheeks is identical. He's the one!"

"What are you talking about?" asked Fox apprehensively as she protectively cradled Alexander closer to her chest.

"I'm sorry, my lady, I did not mean to alarm you," Elsa said apologetically, "but as we were flying home through the passage that separated Neverland from the rest of the world I saw a pair of faces before a wind came up out of nowhere and blew us off course. One of the faces I saw was that of your son

"I'm afraid that it's true sir," Owen confirmed to Xanatos as he handed the med kit to him, then he turned to Elsa and gave a stiff bow as he continued, "I feel that I must apologize for any inconvenience little Alexander's merriment had caused you, but I am glad to see you again and to know that you made it out of your ordeal relatively unscathed."

"Again?" Elsa asked in confusion, "I'm sorry, but I don't…"

"It's rather understandable that you would not recognize me in this form," Owen clarified in his usual wooden manner as he cradled his stone fist against his chest, "but when you saw me last I had flowing white hair and long, pointed ears."

"That was you?" Elsa asked in shock, "You were the one with the baby?"

"Correct," Owen confirmed, then at Xanatos' quizzically raised eyebrow Owen continued, "As you may recall sir, due to my standing up against my Lord Oberon in the defense of you and your family, I have been banished from Avalon and confined to the human form of Owen Barnett under which I had been serving you for a number of years prior to then. The only time I'm allowed to take my form as Puck or use my magic is when I'm either training your son to use his powers or protecting him from harm."

"So when I saw you two, you were teaching him something?" Elsa asked Owen.

"Not exactly," Owen countered, "You see, in the middle of the lesson Alexander had caught sight of you folks passing through the Veil and gotten distracted. It's not often that someone sees a flying boat, particularly one made of ice, or a flying sleigh, although many children hope to see one, particularly that last one for reasons I'm sure you can imagine."

"Ah well," Xanatos said airily, "boys will be boys."

"Indeed," Owen confirmed woodenly, "The fact is that the sight of your vessel had so delighted Alexander that his merriment resulted in an uncontrolled burst of power, the result of which was the wind that had sent you here."

"Okay, based on what you said, our coming here was an accident, right?" Elsa asked. When Owen nodded, she continued, "Then couldn't you just do another spell to send us back home?"

"I am sorry, but as I said I am forbidden from using my powers except to train or protect Alex," Owen apologized, "Furthermore, since it wasn't an actual spell that brought you here it isn't as easy as teaching Alexander the counter-spell so he can use it to send you home."

"So you're saying that we're stuck here?" Anna asked in dismay and homesickness.

"Only for the time being," Owen clarified, "I will need to do some research, figure out exactly where and when you hade come from, and make sure that you had not come from some alternate time line, as that is also possible. Once I have narrowed down all the variables, I should be able to craft a spell that Alexander can use to send you home," then, with a look at Goliath, Owen added, "It's too bad that we don't have access to the Phoenix Gate, as that would have made this much simpler."

"Indeed, but you know why I had to get rid of it," Goliath said somewhat defensively.

"Of course, there's no need to apologize. Any wizened being would have done what you did in your position," Owen said assuredly, "I'm just saying that hindsight is 20/20."

"What is this Phoenix Gate?" Elsa asked Goliath.

"It is a powerful mystical artifact," Goliath explained, "Forged in Avalon eons ago, it had the power to transport others through time and space with a mere thought. It was in my possession until a little more than a year ago, when Puck tried to trick me into handing it over to him so that he might use it as a bribe to persuade Oberon into letting him remain in the human world a little while longer. As a result of that, I felt that the chance of it falling into the wrong hands was too great, so I activated the gate and threw it into the portal generated trusting that, without a mind to direct it, it would remain lost in the time-stream for all time."

"I see," Elsa said morosely, feeling despair and depression closing in again.

"Not to worry, your Highness," Owen assured her, "I will do everything that I can to find a way to get you back home. Now, if you'll excuse me?" Then Owen nodded to Xanatos and walked back in the door to the keep.

As Goliath watched Owen make his way down the hall, a pensive look on his face. Elisa caught sight of this and asked, "I know that look. What is troubling you, Goliath?"

"I was thinking about what Xanatos had said, about not having heard of the country of Arendelle," Goliath answered her.

"I had caught that too," Elisa acknowledged, "What about it?"

"Often, if there's no record in the present of a country that existed in the past, then that means that the country was wiped out at some point, either by being destroyed or absorbed through conquest, or simply by fading away," Goliath explained, "The loss of both a leader and the one next in line could possibly lead to that outcome. If that is the case here, then it is possible that they might not be able to return to their own time."

Both Anna and Elsa look shocked at this revelation as Elsa asked desperately, "Why not? If our kingdom had disappeared simply because we weren't there…"

"I understand why this news might upset you. As one who is over 1000 years out of the time that I called home I sympathize," Goliath said with a sorrowful look in his eyes, "but though my experiences with the Phoenix Gate I have found that history is immutable. No matter what you do to try and change the past, history will always correct itself to nullify what changes you make. If your kingdom _is_ gone in the present, then there may be nothing you can do to correct it, even if you are successful in returning home."

"But Goliath, what if Xanatos was lying about not hearing of their kingdom?" Elisa asked under her breath, aware that Xanatos was still nearby and listening in, "You know, to keep them here maybe?"

Goliath briefly glanced sideways at Xanatos as he answered, "Believe me, Elisa, I had considered that possibility. While I believe he no longer harbors ill will against my clan, I have not made the mistake of trusting him blindly. However, while he may be prone to altering events to serve his own needs, I do not see how he would benefit from a queen without a kingdom. As he is a businessman, I think he would stand to reap greater benefits from restoring a kingdom that deals in exports, particularly if they remembered his part in it and felt grateful. While it is possible he may be wrong or that his information is incomplete, I feel that in this he is telling what he believes to be the truth."

"Exactly," Xanatos sat as he handed the first aid kit to Fox and took Alexander from her, "I wouldn't worry too much, though. Owen is quite capable, whether he has magic or not. But I'm sure you folks are quite exhausted from your trip, so if you'll follow me I can show you to the guest quarters, then when you wake I can help you get some clothes and supplies to help you better blend in while you're here."

Elsa and Anna Looked uncertainly between Xanatos and Goliath, the latter whom smiled reassuringly as he said, "Go on then, you'll be all right here. Dawn is upon us, so it is time for me and my clan to rest as well." Goliath then hugged Elisa and said, "Until tonight, Elisa," then he climbed up to the parapets next to the other gargoyles and assumed a fierce pose out towards the city just as the sun peaked over the horizon. As the sun's rays touched Goliath and his clan, they turned to stone before the disbelieving eyes of Elsa and her friends.

"Wow, and I thought the trolls back home were fascinating!" Anna breathed.

"I never cease to be amazed myself," Xanatos agreed, then he gestured behind him with the hand not cradling his son as he said, "Well, if you'll follow me…?"

Elisa nodded reassuringly, then Elsa, Anna and Kristoff followed Xanatos back inside the castle while Sven remained behind to graze on the grass in the ward. Fox then knelt down beside Elisa while she opened the med kit, but Elisa waved her off as she took a jar out from within, opening it as she said, "This ointment is all I need, and I prefer to apply it myself, thanks."

"You still don't trust me," Fox stated simply.

"Would you? After everything you and your husband have done?" Elisa said as she rubbed the ointment into her bruises.

"No, I suppose I wouldn't," Fox conceded.

"Anyway, it's not so much a matter of trusting you or not as it is self-reliance," Elisa continued as she stretched to apply the ointment in her more difficult to reach areas, "If I wasn't prepared to take care of myself after such a rough-and-tumble day, then I wouldn't have become a cop."

"That's true. I suppose that's one similarity we share," Fox agreed, then she placed on hand on Elisa's knee as she continued softly, "I never did thank you properly for your part in saving my son."

"Thanks, but I really had no part in that myself," Elisa kindly dismissed her, "I was passed out all that time due to Oberon's spell."

"I wasn't thinking of that," Fox corrected her with a smile, "but rather back in Australia, when you and Goliath saved me and my unborn son from being devoured by the nanites, and again when you and the gargoyles saved my son from Doyle's kidnappers."

"Oh, well don't worry about that," Elisa said modestly, "Just part of the job."

"Well, 'part of the job' or not, my family owes just as much to you as it does to Goliath and his clan, so….thanks," Fox replied.

"You're welcome," Elisa said as she patted Fox's hand, then she stood and stretched, wiping the excess ointment on her pant leg as she said, "Speaking of the job, I need to call in the report of the Quarryman's attack. Mind if I borrow your phone?"

Fox smiled and handed Elisa her phone and, after she figured out where to touch on the touchscreen to access the dialer, Elisa called the precinct to report the attack, downplaying the role Elsa and her friends played in order to avoid causing them trouble, and called out for an APB on her attackers. Then she disconnected the call and started to hand it back over, but Fox just wave her off and said, "Keep it. I'll have Owen transfer it to your name before you get back to the station. It's the least I can do."

Elisa briefly considered turning down Fox's generosity, as this was one of the most expensive phones currently on the market, but then she placed the phone in her pocket and said, "Thanks. I should be going now." Elisa then walked back to the doors leading inside the castle and opened them, stopping briefly to look over her shoulder to say in a gentler tone, "I don't think I'll ever fully trust you or Xanatos the way that the gargoyles had back in the beginning, but I suppose I can give you guys the opportunity to start earning that trust."

"Thanks," Fox said with a smile, which Elisa returned with a nod before she continued on inside.

* * *

Hours later, down at the station…

"What do you mean you're letting them walk!?" Elisa bellowed at her Captain.

"Calm down, Elisa," Captain Chavez gently said.

"Calm down!? Captain, they attacked Goliath and myself!" Elisa snapped at her, "They were going to kill us! They practically bragged about it!" Feeling a pressure on the back of her neck, Elisa turned her head to see the Quarrymen who had been picked up a few hours ago turning to exit the main doors. A few of them were smirking at her as their comrades walked past, one going as far to mockingly blow a kiss at her. Fuming, Elisa turned back towards her Captain as she was saying, "And if we had any evidence that they had done it you know that I would gladly lock them away and throw away the key. Nobody attacks a cop in this town and gets away with it!"

Elisa pulled down the collar of her shirt to reveal the bruise there, which had already turned an ugly shade of purple, and screamed, "Is this not evidence enough!?"

"It proves you were attacked, yes, but not who had done it," Chavez said patiently, "You said yourself that your attackers wore hoods and gloves, and that you had not seen the license plate of the van they got away in. That means that it could have been anyone under there. I had my people go over the place where we picked them up at with a fine tooth comb, but there was nothing to tie them to the scene of the crime, and they all had alibis. Without a reliable eyewitness or a smoking gun, we had nothing to hold them on." As Elisa turns her back to the Captain in a huff, Chavez gently asked Elisa, "Are you sure that your mysterious benefactors have no additional information they could provide?"

Elisa had been deliberately vague in the report about Anna's and Elsa's involvement in their rescue, partly because they had not been in a position to provide an more useful information, but also she did not want to draw attention to the fact that the two of them were in this country without any papers to show. "They saw the exact same things that Goliath and I saw," Elisa replied without turning around, "which is apparently nothing!"

Captain Chavez reached across the desk to place a comforting hand on Elisa's shoulder, then cringed as Elisa flinched away in pain. "Sorry," she apologized, "Why don't you take the next few days off on paid medical leave, to rest and heal. I'll have some people tail those creeps for a while. If any of them so much as jaywalks or drops a single piece of litter, we'll have them back behind bars before they can blink."

"Thanks," Elisa says as she walks away, then as soon as she's out of the office she mutters, "but, as usual, this looks like a job for the gargoyles."

* * *

"Wow, the women of this time like to dress rather….conservatively, don't they?" Anna's voice came from the adjoining dressing room, sounding as if she were embarrassed. When Elsa lifted herself up to look over the wall that separated them she could see why. When Elsa had first used her powers to change her coronation dress into the one that she wore most days, Elsa had thought that she was being daring. However, the dress that Anna was currently trying on now, with its strapless and backless design, low-cut bodice, and extremely short skirt, that it made Elsa's frost dress look positively modest.

True to his word, once Elsa and her friends had a couple hours of sleep (or at least rest, for Elsa was too keyed up for sleep), Xanatos had supplied them with a couple of stiff rectangular cards that he said were what most people these days used to purchase things, as well as a couple of assistants to accompany them where they needed to go. Because the stores that sold the "best" clothing were different for men than they were for women they had to take two separate vehicles. Anna had balked at the idea of separating, and Elsa had said that wasn't necessary to go to so much trouble, but Xanatos had insisted that it was no trouble at all. Realizing that arguing the point much further might insult their host, they reluctantly agreed.

Returning her mind to the present, Elsa told Anna, "The green one looked good on you. I think you should get that one."

"Really?" Anna asked as she held the dress Elsa was indicating up to her again.

As she appraised it again, Elsa saw that while it was still rather daring for people from their time, the skirt only came up to just below the knees, and the neckline only dipped slightly lower than the apparel that women from their era wore. "Absolutely," Elsa confirmed.

As for her own outfit, Elsa had decided that she would go against the conventions of her era and abide by those these people lived by. Instead of a dress, Elsa had decided on a pair of tight trousers she was told was made of something called faded denim, a white undershirt, and a light blue leather jacket. While she was wearing this outfit, Elsa felt strong, powerful, and confident in a way that she hadn't felt since she had arrived in this strange era. She also thought that this look seemed somewhat familiar. Then, as she looked into the mirror at a certain angle, she saw it: this outfit was almost the same as the one Elisa Maza wore, only with a lighter color tone. This made her almost decide against it, afraid that she might offend Elisa by copying her. But then as she thought how strong Elisa always seemed, even in the face of impossible odds, Elsa decided that wasn't a bad person to model herself off of.

The outfit felt so good when she had it on that she didn't want to take it off just yet, but she was afraid it might cause too much confusion if she came in with her dress on and left completely without it, so she recreated it on one of the hangers that had been left in the room, then draped it over her shoulder as she exited the dressing area.

As they went to the clerk to have the tags on their purchases "scanned" and the clerk removed the "anti-theft devices" that were attached (although how something so small was supposed to keep someone from taking something without first paying for it Elsa had no idea), they ran the card through the device as instructed. After the machine spat out a printed piece of paper, the clerk handed the paper to them along with bags containing Anna's outfits and wished them a good day.

When they walked out the door, the assistant (who had patiently waited just inside the door) followed them outside and called for the driver to come pick them up. While they were waiting, Anna turned to her sister and said hesitantly, "Uh, Elsa? About Mr. Xanatos…"

Elsa, who had been expecting this topic to come up for a bit now, braced herself as she prompted, "Yes?"

When Anna felt the assistant was not paying them much attention, or at least was being polite by pretending not to, she continued, "I know that he's being very kind to us, but there's just something about him that….that…"

Seeing Anna struggling to complete her though, Elsa offered, "…reminds too much of the Duke of Weselton?"

Anna looked ashamed that she'd thought that, but she said in a small voice, "Yeah."

Elsa put a reassuring arm around Anna's shoulders as she said, "Don't fret about it too much. I'd been feeling the same way for a while now."

When the car arrived and the assistant held the back door open for them, Anna asked, "Do you think we can trust him?"

As Elsa and Anna entered the car and fastened the belts attached to the seats, Elsa said as the car drove to where they would meet up with Kristoff to do the part of the shopping they would be able to do together, "We don't have much of a choice right now, Anna. Even if I had the Royal Seal with me when the pirates had grabbed me, and even if they would have let me keep it, I don't think that it would have been worth much here. Right now, as long as we're stuck here, Mr. Xanatos' generosity is the only thing helping us get by here. If he turns out too much like the Duke, however, I'm sure that we can count on Elisa and the gargoyles to have our backs. Besides, anybody would have to be crazy or just plain stupid to mess with your big sister."

When Anna didn't lose her frown of worry, Elsa tousled Anna's hair until she got a smile out of her, then she hugged her warmly as she said, "Don't worry, Anna. Everything is going to be just fine."

As the sisters enjoyed the warm embrace, a loud screeching sound startled them both. Before the could recover enough to figure out where the sound came from, a huge, jarring impact from the left side of the vehicle shook what sense they had out of them, and the vehicle's rolling over and over on its side had them completely disoriented.

When the vehicle finally went still, the first sensation that came to Anna through her grogginess was pain: pain greater than when the pirates had clocked her from behind, pain greater than when the chandelier of her ice palace fell practically on top of her. Then the next thing she was aware of was that she was hanging upside down, held in place by the "seatbelt" that, most likely, saved her life. But even though she could feel the blood rushing to her head, Elsa could not summon the strength to move to unfasten it. She wanted to call out to Anna to ask if she was all right, but she had trouble forming the words.

Soon she heard the breaking of glass and the wrenching of metal accompanied by a fresh breeze tinged with the hint of smoke. Then there was a frenzied motion as first Anna's then her own seatbelts were released, followed by the sensation of being carried by her hands and feet. Even though she had a hard time focusing her eyes, Elsa could tell right away that something was wrong. These were not the cautious and gentle grips of rescuers, but instead were hard and rough. She heard voices frantically saying, "Hurry up! Get them in the truck!" Then she had the sensation of being slid in against a hard metal surface.

Finding her tongue again, Elsa weakly asked, "Anna? Where?"

"Don't you worry, pretty little witch," a rough voice responded, and Elsa was briefly able to focus enough to see a hooded face and a stylized logo depicting a hammer in a circle on a black uniform, "You're just going for a little ride." Then the doors at the back of the truck closed and Elsa succumbed to unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter 3: Vengeance

**Vengeance**

When Elisa returned to the Erie Building mere minutes before sunset she was feeling worse than ever, the aches and pains from the beating she'd received from the Quarrymen the previous night making itself loudly known throughout her entire body. Of course it didn't help matters that she only managed to get a couple hours of sleep before the alarm she'd set woke her up.

It seemed that her apartment wasn't nearly as comfortable or relaxing ever since her life changed completely nearly three years ago. Now it seemed that she slept better in their presence than she did in her own bed, or at least she did back when they resided back at the clock tower. Now, however, with them living back at Castle Wyvern atop the Erie Building, Elisa has had to wait to come back whenever she needed to see Goliath and the others. Of course Xanatos and Fox have made it no secret that she was welcome to come up there anytime that she wished, but somehow she could never relax around them no matter how often they claim to have changed, and she would never forget what he'd done to her brother.

When the elevator arrived at the top floor and the doors opened, the sounds of an argument immediately put her on her guard.

"This is all you fault, Xanatos!" Kristoff bellowed at him, "You should have let me go with them!"

"I didn't think that you'd want to wait around while the ladies shopped for clothes in a store that only sold stuff for them, and it's not like we expected anything like this to happen," Xanatos said defensively, "Besides, my people are trained to handle themselves in situations like this, and if they were unable to prevent it…"

"What's going on?" Elisa said as she approached the two men.

"Ah, Detective," Xanatos greeted her, "Perfect timing, as always. It would seem that our mutual friends the Quarrymen have struck again. This time they used a large delivery truck to disable the car Anna and Elsa were traveling in, after which they took them prisoner."

"What?" Elisa said with shock and surprise, then her anger flared up again as she asked, "When?"

"Around a couple of hours ago, and I found out a little more than an hour ago when the hospital contacted me to tell me that my people were there being treated, but no one else that matched the girls' descriptions," Xanatos explained, then with a glance at the darkening sky he continued, "But it looks as though our friends will be waking up soon, so might I suggest that we move our conversation outside? Saves time in the re-telling."

Elisa, who had nearly forgotten the reason she'd came here in the first place, nodded in agreement, then they all stepped outside just as the sun finished dipping below the horizon. First was the sound of cracking stone, then the gargoyles exploded out of their stone sleep with a chorus of roars.

"Goliath!" Elisa called up to him.

"Elisa!" Goliath said as he hopped down into the ward to join her, hearing the tension in her voice, "What's wrong?"

"The Quarrymen have captured Anna and Elsa!" Elisa said quickly.

"What?" Goliath roared, his eyes lighting up with his rage.

"But how?" Angela asked, "Elsa is so powerful, I doubt that she'd go down without a fight."

"To put it simply, they hit them with a big truck," Xanatos said simply.

"Then it's time I returned the favor," Goliath said with a growl as he turned back towards the outer wall.

"Wait," Xanatos called out, "Don't you think it would help if you knew where they are?"

All eyes narrowed in Xanatos' direction as Goliath said evenly, "Something from your tone tells me that you do."

"Of course," Xanatos said matter-of-factly as he showed them the card that he'd given Kristoff, "The cards I'd given Kristoff and the girls each have a GPS tracking chip in the place where some other cards would have a NFC chip. The moment I realized that the girls might be in trouble I had Owen prepare a device to follow the signal."

"You never miss a trick, do you Xanatos?" Elisa said as she crossed her arms smartly.

"When it comes to ensuring the safety and well being of those under my care, you bet I don't," Xanatos retorted.

"I'm sure it makes your guests feel all warm and fuzzy to know you lo-jacked them for their own 'protection'," Lexington said sarcastically.

"Enough," Goliath said in a tone that brooked no argument, "We can discuss the morality of Xanatos' actions later. Right now, rescuing Anna and Elsa is more important. Agreed?"

Everyone nods at Goliath's statement, then Elisa takes the offered handheld tracker from Xanatos before climbing up into Goliath's arms.

"Hey, what about me? I want to go too!" Kristoff said, concern coloring his voice.

The other Gargoyles look at him uncertainly, judging their own ability to carry someone of his size over a great distance. "Well…" Broadway began.

"Here," Xanatos said as he touched a button on his watch, causing a hidden trap door to iris open in the ward and Xanatos' battle suit to emerge from it, "You look about my size, so I think I can let you borrow this for tonight. Just try to bring it back in one piece."

"Uh, thanks," Kristoff said as he headed over there. Then, once Kristoff was fully attired in the offered suit, they all took off into the night sky.

* * *

_Meanwhile…_

Elsa awoke slowly, her entire body aching as if she had been used as a volleyball in a game between Marshmallow and the trolls. As other sensations came back to her, she became aware of a greater pain around her wrists and a feeling that she was somehow hanging in the air.

"She's finally waking up," Elsa heard one voice say.

"Good. She's of no use to us if she cannot talk," Another voice said in response.

When her eyes flutter open, she sees that she is hanging by a chain around her wrists in a mostly empty building, one that is most likely used for storing things, and standing before her is a man dressed similar to one of those men who attacked Goliath and Elisa.

"You!" Elsa growled, her fury rising even as frost began climbing up the chain.

"Nuh-uh-uh missy! I wouldn't do that if I were you!" The Quarryman chided her. Then, with a yank on the excess chain, he spun her around and what Elsa saw doused her fury and stopped her heart cold. There were easily three times as many Quarrymen than what attacked Elisa and Goliath, some armed with those hammers and others with some sort of weapon that looked like a more powerful version of Elisa's "pistol". And in the middle of the gathering was her sister Anna, chained into a kneeling position over an anvil, and one of the Quarrymen had his hammer poised over her head.

"Anna!" Elsa cried out in panic, "No! Stop, don't hurt my sister!"

"Sister, eh?" The first Quarryman said as he stepped back into view, then he called out to one of the others, "Keep a sharp eye on that one. If she tries anything funny…"

The Quarryman nodded his acknowledgement, cocking his projectile weapon as he said, "You got it."

Anna lifted her head weakly and said, "Elsa?"

"Why are you people doing this?" Elsa asked in dismay, her eyes threatening to tear, "What do you want?"

"What do we want? That's the question of the day, now isn't it?" the Quarryman responded, and though she couldn't see it she could hear his smirk in his voice, "And now that we've got your attention, Elsa, we're going to play a little game called Three Strikes. If you answer them all completely and truthfully, then we'll let you and your sister go, no worse for the wear. If you lie to any of the questions, play dumb, or try to evade it, then that'll count as a strike. Get three strikes, and we'll smash little Anna's head like a melon." At this announcement, Elsa's blood ran cold, and the Quarryman chuckled at the look of fear on her face as he continued, "Of course it should go without saying, but if you try escaping before we're done, if we see any hint of your freaky powers, then that'll be an instant three strikes, then….let's just say that we'll see if blondes truly are as brainless as all the jokes say."

Elsa quickly assessed the situation. She figured that if she used a sudden burst of her powers that she could flash freeze all of the Quarrymen in this room before they could blink, but as Anna was right in the middle of them then she'd likely be frozen as well, and as weak as she looked Elsa didn't think that she'd survive long enough for Elsa to free herself and thaw her. Also, anything more gradual would surely be noticed and would also sign Anna's death warrant. Seeing no alternative, Elsa swallowed and said, "I'm listening."

"Good," the Quarryman said, "Here's the first question. We know that you and your sister came from Xanatos' Erie Building, and that he's providing sanctuary for those monsters in the castle at the top. What we want to know is what kind of security measures does he have in place there? What are the access codes?"

"I don't know," Elsa admitted, "We only got here last night. We don't know anything about any 'security measures' or 'access codes'!"

"Yeah, sure!" the Quarryman said sarcastically, "Because David Xanatos is so open hearted and generous, he'll give anyone off the street an unlimited credit card, chauffeured limousines and armed bodyguards. You'll have to come up with something better than that. And just so you know, that was strike one."

* * *

_Elsewhere, flying through the skies over Manhattan,_

"Okay. Thanks, Captain, I owe you one!" Elisa said on the phone before disconnecting the call, then she looked at the hand-held tracker, whose beeping was growing higher pitched as the dot traveled closer to the center of the screen, as she said to Goliath, "Captain Chavez is sending a task squad over to the location right now. I figure that they'll arrive a little after we do, so we just have to keep them busy until they get there."

"I just pray that we'll get there in time," Goliath replied in a worried tone.

* * *

"Your stories are getting more outlandish all the time!" the Quarryman said angrily to Elsa, "You expect us to believe that you and your sister are royalty that arrived here from around 200 years ago, and that you got here on a sleigh pulled by a flying reindeer?! What kind of rubes do you take us for?"

"It's the truth!" Elsa said desperately, her tears now flowing freely down her face.

"Bullshit!" The Quarryman bellowed at her, then he took her chin in her hand and made her look at Anna as he said, "This is your last chance! Stop jerking us around and give us some real answers, or else…"

The Quarryman is interrupted by the sound of a bellowing roar, and Elsa couldn't help chuckling as her face broke out in an amazed grin. Had she heard this sound a mere six months ago, before her coronation, the sound would have caused a thrill of terror through her and given her nightmares for at least a week. Now, however, it was the most beautiful sound in the world to her, right up there with the tinkling of glass as the gargoyles smashed through the upper windows along with Elisa and….was that Kristoff? As he landed somewhat ungainly but quickly righted himself she realized it was true: Kristoff had arrived in some sort of gargoyle-themed battle armor then, as soon as he spotted Anna, began tearing through Quarrymen to get to her.

"It's the gargoyles!" One of the Quarrymen said in a panicked voice, "How did they find us here?"

"Who cares?" The Quarryman who had been questioning her said as he hefted his hammer, "Slag them!"

Then the battle began in earnest as the Quarrymen began firing their strange weapons and swinging their blazing hammers in an effort to bring the gargoyles down. However, even though they were outnumbered and outgunned, it became quickly apparent that the gargoyles and Elisa were the true warriors here, as most of the Quarrymen's shots and swings went wide, but Elisa and the others made each of their blows count.

Meanwhile, Kristoff had made it to where Anna was chained up at and, gripping it with one hand, shattered the lock binding it together in one squeeze.

"Wow! This armor is something else!" Kristoff said in an amazed tone, looking dumbfounded at the broken remnants of the lock in his hand.

"Yeah, it is!" Anna agreed, equally amazed as she shrugged off the chain and stood up. Then her eyes widened and she pointed behind him and yelled, "Look out!"

Kristoff spun around in surprise, inadvertently knocking out the Quarryman behind him with a backhand. "Wow," Kristoff said again. Then Anna came around and, spotting what she was looking for, reached down and retrieved her confiscated frying pan from around the man's shoulder as she said, "I'll take that back, thank you!" Then Anna and Kristoff nodded to each other before the waded into the fray with Anna swinging the skillet with more vigor than Elsa had seen before, many of the blows causing teeth to fly out of the Quarrymen's unseen mouths.

_Good, Anna's free now and out of danger_, Elsa thought with relief, then as the fury rose up in her again she thought, _which means the kid gloves come off __**now!**_

The temperature inside the building then fell twenty degrees in a matter of seconds and her tear tracks instantly froze and turned blue, creating a gruesome mask on her face. Then the chain binding Elsa's wrists became brittle and shattered as her ice armor began forming around her even before her feet touched the ground.

"Jalapeña! What in the seven shades is that?" Hudson asked in shock, entranced by the spectacle like everyone else there.

Anna, who was nearby at the time, said wide eyed in a small voice, "That would be my sister."

As the armor finished forming even larger than it had ever been, a hammer formed in each of its hands as she bellowed, her voice amplified by the ice, "You cowards dare to threaten my sister!?" Then she tore into them.

The Quarrymen, having decided that Elsa was now the larger threat all converged on her, but it was no use. Their guns could not penetrate deep enough into the thick ice and their hammers had zero effect, while Elsa's hammers tore through the Quarrymen's ranks like a farmer's sickles though a wheat field.

As she fought, Elsa heard the most terrible roar yet, like an enraged beast looking for blood. She could not see which gargoyle had uttered it, nor did she care, but if she could have stepped outside herself she would have seen the one who made that sound was Elsa herself. As her rage grew, a miniature blizzard formed within the building and her armor changed and distorted, becoming less human-like and resembling more one of the frost giants of legend, who were said to have terrorized the Earth in ages past and battled against the gods of Asgard.

"Goliath!" Elisa hollered as she shielded her face from the storm, "She's out of control!"

Goliath nodded and took off running in Elsa's direction, Anna following right behind.

The remaining Quarrymen had abandoned their weapons and huddled near one of the corners of the warehouse. One of them, from whose voice was the one who had been questioning Elsa, pleaded in a tone that was shaky from both cold and fear, "Stop! Please, we're sorry! We surrender!"

But Elsa was not looking for apologies, not interested in surrender: she wanted punishment! As she raised both hammers high, they fused and changed into a single giant spiked mace. As she reared back to swing, Goliath appeared between them, raising both hands high as he said, "Queen Elsa, stop! You can not do this!"

Elsa, torn between her respect for the noble protector and her fierce desire to punish the men responsible for threatening her family, snarled back at him, "Goliath, move!"

"I cannot! As a gargoyle, it is our mandate to preserve the lives of all sentient beings, even those who seem to not deserve it," Goliath replied.

"They _don't_ deserve it!" Elsa bellowed back at him.

"That may be so, but before you swing I ask you to think about your people," Goliath said, "What kind of leader do you think they'd want: one who takes vengeance as she sees fit, or one who's gracious and shows mercy?"

As Goliath's words ring in her ears, Elsa catches movement to her left and glares down only to have her face go slack as she sees Anna timidly touching the leg of her armor, her voice meekly pleading, "Elsa, please?"

The fear in her sister's eyes, the fear of _her_, shocks Elsa back to her senses as her grip slackens on the mace, allowing it to crash to the ground behind her. Then she stares at the clawed hands of her armor as she says in shocked horror, "What have….what have I become?" And with that the storm abruptly stops, the snow and her armor evaporating without a trace, the only evidence of her rampage being the strewn and groaning Quarrymen.

"It's okay," Anna assured her in a shaky voice while Goliath bent a piece of pipe around the Quarrymen still huddled together, "It's over."

"And I think that between the charges of vehicular assault, kidnapping, and assault with deadly intent, that these boys will not see the light of day for a very long time," Elisa said from Elsa's other side.

Elsa nodded her understanding, then she strode up to the Quarrymen and, with the last remaining anger in her heart, said to the one who'd interrogated her, "And for your sake, you best confess to _everything_ that you have done, because if you _don't_…" Then Elsa gripped the man's throat and let him feel the cold as it creeped up to his face, hissing, "…if I ever see you again, then your heart turning into solid ice inside your chest will be the last thing you feel. Am I clear?"

"Y-y-yes ma'am," the Quarryman said in a shaky voice, "I m-m-mean yes, your-r-r Majesty."

Elsa then released his throat, walking away for a few steps before draping an arm around Anna's shoulders as Elisa said to the Quarrymen still conscious, "I think she means it, boys." Then, as the sounds of sirens became audible and quickly grew louder, Elisa turned to Goliath and said, "You guys probably should get out of here now."

"No, Elisa," Goliath gently countered, "The time had come for us to stop lurking in the shadows and stand with you as the protectors of this city." Then he and Elisa turned together to look on Elsa and Anna and they huddled together, embracing and offering each other comfort, and Kristoff, still clad in his armor, strode over to join them.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the darkened maintenance room, a shadowy figure observed the proceedings with blood-red eyes. As her rapt attention remained fixated on Elsa in the three-way embrace, a slight smile tugs on the corner of Demona's mouth, the still unactivated time-bomb all but forgotten in her hand. "Well now, I think that I could like _her_," Demona mused quietly to herself, "even if she _is_ a _human!_" Then, as the approaching sirens suddenly stop, Demona tucks the bomb back into a pouch on her waist, then she melts into the shadows and vanishes.

* * *

_Later, back at the Erie Building…_

"Well, you'll be glad to know that the Quarrymen have all been booked with so many charges against them that they'll all need canes and walkers by the time they get released," Elisa said as she stepped off the elevator, "Not only that, but they practically confessed to everything, even the initial assault against Goliath and myself, which they had initially denied at first, so the DA's going to have a cakewalk ahead of him. Of course there may still be other chapters of those cockroaches out there, but at least this particular group is out of our hair."

"Additionally," Elisa said towards Elsa, "you may be glad to hear that none of the Quarrymen you attacked suffered anything worse than some bruised and cracked ribs, as well as some other minor fractures, and that none of them are pressing assault charges against you. Quite frankly, I think they're scared shitless that they may be assigned to the same prison as you if they did."

"To tell the truth, I'm not sure how I feel about that, about any part of that actually," Elsa confessed as she still stared at her hands, Anna patting her back reassuringly.

Elisa nodded her understanding as she said, I'm sure that you have a lot to think about now, but at least that should be one less worry on your mind."

Goliath, who's had experience in reading Elisa's expression, says, "I'm getting the feeling that you have some other news to share."

Elisa nods and says, "And that's where the bad news comes in. Thanks to this incident, Captain Chavez now knows all about our visitors, which means that Immigration and Customs also knows. Unless they can get back on their way home soon, our friends may be facing some uncomfortable questions asked by people who may have a hard time believing the answers." She then turns towards Owen and asks, "How is that coming, by the way?"

"Slowly, but surely," Owen answered her, "By researching both history and legend, including stories by Hans Christian Anderson, I believe I've narrowed it down to the decade and rough geographical location. By the evening after next I think I should have a spell crafted that will allow our friends to travel home."

"Well, hopefully we'll get them home before things get too complicated for them," Elisa said fervently. Then, splitting the air was a strange, high-pitched electronic noise that grated on the nerves and pressed upon the eardrums.

"What is that noise?" Lexington said wincing as Bronx howled and Sven pranced about unhappily.

As the noise wound down, Goliath hopped up to the outer wall for a better view, then he gasped in shock and said, "That, it seems, was the sound of things becoming _much_ more complicated."

As Elisa and Angela joined him, Elisa gasped, "It can't be!"

"Father," Angela asked him, "Is that….can that really be…?"

"Yes, my daughter, I do believe that it is," Goliath confirmed.

As the others joined them on the wall, they all shared in Goliath's shock and wonder, for on the brightening horizon had appeared a new landmark: An island whose fantastic towers outshone those of even New York City itself!

"Lad, you know what that place is?" Hudson asked Goliath.

"That, my friends, is New Olympus, home of the New Olympians," Goliath told them all, "It seems that our friends from the world tour have decided to reveal themselves to the human world at last."

_To be continued in "The Rift"_


End file.
